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When most animals fight to protect their young it is a conditioned response, not a conscious sacrifice. Humans possess an advanced sense of logic and reasoning. A human decision to fight to the death for the protection of another person or group is because for that individual those persons survival means more to him than his own. Humans are uniquely able to make that judgment call. A human can love his dog, but I would argue that the dog lacks the mental capacity to love him back regardless of the level of devotion and loyalty that dog has.
That is not to say that love isn’t in part a conditioned response. It is much easier to love family and those that elicit a conditioned response than it is to love a stranger.
In the situation where someone becomes a martyr for a cause in which the survival of others is not directly threatened, generally that cause is so deeply engrained into the person’s identity that to die for that cause is to die for himself. It would only be love if it were a cause that he didn’t personally care about but deeply affected others that he valued more highly than himself.
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I know Nietzsche doesnt rhyme with peachy, but you sound like a pretentious prick when you correct me.
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